The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[cooleddie74]

More reports of Mission Series Wave 2 hitting American retail, specifically Walmart. Some of us won't be interested in these but for anybody who might be, pay attention to the paint apps. Some of them can be pretty dodgy and sloppy, but when you get two figures for $9.96 in this day and age you can't really expect premium detailing and quality.

Still, they're out there if you want to find something that's cheap, brand new and Original Trilogy-oriented.

 

[Admiral_Young]

A friend of mine and I popped into TRU yesterday afternoon and to my surprise what did I see? Two Greedo's! They also had a Slave Leia left. If I had more money I would have picked those up.

 

[AstroSmurf]

This is my Jabba the Hutt palace collection. I started it two years ago and have been adding new things when I find them. It started with the Walmart-exclusive Jabba, which I thought was damn near amazing. The earlier incarnations never looked right to me but this one blew my socks off. I then added Slave Leia (which is an another amazing figure), C3PO, Han, and Luke. Then I found a Gamorrean guard figure, thought it was spectacular and bought another just for the hell of it. Someone gave me Chewbacca and the rest have been added as I found them. I am still looking for others and expect this one to occupy me for a while longer.

 

[cooleddie74]

Outstanding! I love it! I've never made a Jabba's Palace diorama....kudos on all your work to collect these and make this!

I love that 2010 Jabba's Throne playset and figures. Best 3.75" Jabba the Hutt ever made. I see you threw Tessek and Ree-Yees in there, too. Nice touches!

 

[cooleddie74]

The rumored case breakdown of Wave 4 of the 6" Black Series.

Chewbacca? Awesome. Very awesome. I'm hoping this is an OT Chewie, but any version of the walking carpet would be a lot of fun in this scale.

But enough with all the Prequel characters for now. Please. I know some of this stuff was well into development when everybody thought Episodes II and III were going to be on 3-D and IMAX screens and Hasbro's not going to shelve nor forget about these after spending all the time and money to design and make them, but let's give Episodes I-III a little break. The next slew of Star Wars film and television projects don't even take place during the Prequel era and 2012 saw an absolute yawn- and nausea-inducing overkill of merchandise from that period.

I'm sure an Episode II Clone Trooper will look great in 6" scale and with two dozen advanced joints, but let's focus on the OT after this, guys? We don't even know how much longer The Black Series will last so let's do some more classic characters.

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ I am not so sure about this one but I am really excited about Chewbacca. But to be honest... and I realize it may never happen... I am terrified Hasbro is going to screw around, piss off the collectors, and have to dump the line before they get to the really good ones like C3PO, Vader, Yoda, and the Emperor.

 

[od0_ital]

Unfortunately this was my only Science Fiction gift this year. Its the battle damage Enterprise from Hot Wheels.

I got an Enterprise from Hot Wheels, too, but without the "battle damage."

It was a Christmas gift from my brother in law.

 

[cooleddie74]

^ I am not so sure about this one but I am really excited about Chewbacca. But to be honest... and I realize it may never happen... I am terrified Hasbro is going to screw around, piss off the collectors, and have to dump the line before they get to the really good ones like C3PO, Vader, Yoda, and the Emperor.

Not to mention a Hair Bun Leia and Lando in his Bespin administrator's cape. I still don't know why they carry forward Episode III Obi-Wan when the Sandtrooper, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett are relegated to just one lone case assortment each. That's baffling, because a blind chimp could see and understand that Imperial troop builders and the franchise's most popular bounty hunter are what we want to see more of on shelves, not yet another Ewan McGregor.

And I adore Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Picked up more of the new Marvel Legends today. This one is the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie version:

He doesn't quite unseat the Spider-Man Classics Wall Crawling (or Mcfarlane version as its known amongst collectors) as the best Spider-Man figure ever, but man is it up there.

Alas, it seems that for every figure where they go the extra mile like Spider-Man or Carnage, we get one that they completely half-ass, as is the case with Red Skull:

Everything from the neck down is a complete reuse of the Avengers Nick Fury figure. Even the holsters are the same. This is the worst part. Red Skull comes with two different guns, only one of which can even fit in either of the holsters. You will always have an empty holster no matter what. At least he does come with the Cosmic Cube (or Tesseract if you're a movie fan.) That's an accessory that's been sorely lacking at the 6" scale for some time.

 

[cooleddie74]

Bonus Win points for hanging Spidey from the Cloud City weather vane. Pretty awesome.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Both are owned by Disney, now too, so this could be canon!

As for the Black Series waves not necessarily including the most fan demanded chactars, there's a business reason for that. You can't frontload your heaviest hitters. Then you have nothing to sustain later waves. It's why, for example, in Marvel Legends every wave had to have a Spider-Man or Wolverine or Iron Man, etc. The companies need the guaranteed sales of those heavy hitters in order to eat the lower sales of the lesser characters. If they gave us all of the Original Trilogy figures in one go, then there's nothing to support the less popular prequel characters, or even lesset OT characters like Greedo, and the line ends. Heck, look at DC Universe Classics. Martian Manhunter, an essential Justice League member, didn't come out until wave fifteen. FIFTEEN! Companies spacing out the major characters is hardly something new.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I know they can't slot every megapopular character as a carry forward into the next wave assortment and I would never expect them to take all three of the ones I mentioned and stuff them into the very next waves (though I'd be the last guy you'd hear complain about that), but I'd just like to see one of them carried forward to meet demand and if I had to choose I'd go with the plain white Stormtrooper or Boba (whose scarcity is driving a lot of collectors batty with frustration, yourself included I believe ).

The business reasons aren't always the most collector- nor kid-friendly ones, unfortunately, but I sorta get the logic. Still, if I can score just one plain white Stormie after he hits I'll be satisfied. I'm picking and choosing with some of these anyways.

 

[Kira's Mom]

Funko is releasing a Black Widow! She's so cute. I already pre-ordered her.

She'll look nice with my Hawkeye Mini Muggs. I wish Funko had made a Hawkeye other than that disturbing bobblehead doll!

I'd love it if they did a Sherlock and Doctor Who series.

 

[cooleddie74]

Bobblehead Cumberdesk?

I'd get him.

 

[Saga]

picked up Goldfire Bumblebee today. i've never been crazy about the character. and this is the first BB i've owned since i was a kid. i'm pretty happy with this version.

 

[Admiral_Young]

It looks like Marvel Legends is returning back to prominence with their Infinite Series line. The "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" line was revealed. It looks just as good as the Spider-Man infinite series IMO. I will be picking up the Steve and 'Tasha figures.

http://marvelousnews.com/index.php?catid=252&itemid=16913

 

[cooleddie74]

Just breaking: the very first packaged images of the Saga Legends Darth Maul and Snowtrooper figures, due out in a future unspecified wave of the new line.

Maul reminds me a lot of the very first 1999 "Jedi Duel" Maul figure from the original Episode I line, only this time with superior facial paint apps and sculpting. 5-POA or not, this figure is superior to the one released almost fifteen years ago.

Nice considering the primitive articulation. I can see some people wanting to squad-build this guy. He'll probably be popular at this cheaper price.

 

[Kira's Mom]

It looks like Marvel Legends is returning back to prominence with their Infinite Series line. The "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" line was revealed. It looks just as good as the Spider-Man infinite series IMO. I will be picking up the Steve and 'Tasha figures.

http://marvelousnews.com/index.php?catid=252&itemid=16913

I'm getting Tasha for sure. My big Clint is lonely.

 

[B.J.]

My big Clint is lonely.

 

[cooleddie74]

This thread just got weird.